Primer: WEC 46 and UFC Fight Night 20

There was a time when 42 fighters would represent an expansive
fighter roster that could see a company through a year’s worth of
shows. In a climate where cable television feeds on this kind of
thing, 42 is just about the number needed to run two events within
48 hours of one another.

Both Sunday’s WEC 46 and Monday’s UFC Fight Night 20 have obstacles
beyond administering physicals to all of them. For the UFC, it’ll
be how they’ll fare in their first live head-to-head appearance
against the WWE and assisting attraction Mike Tyson, who “guest
hosts” the wrestling event. For the WEC, it’ll be a gauge how
dramatic an uptick in business exists when Urijah Faber
is in the house. (12/19’s WEC 45, with no major stars, sold a bleak
926 tickets.)

These are deep shows, full of talent and rankings significance.
Come late Monday night, you might actually be a little sick of MMA.
No shame in that.

Why You Should Care: Because Jamie Varner
and Benson
Henderson will be tumbling all over the WEC’s cage, Henderson
in particular being an utter failure when it comes to disappointing
people; because Urijah Faber
will be eager to remind fans why he was once the most feared man in
the 145-pound division; because Mike Thomas
Brown will want to do the same; because Amir
Sadollah/Brad
Blackburn will be a mess of feet and elbows; and because
Gray
Maynard will hopefully try like heck to look impressive and
cement his claim to B.J. Penn’s
spring title defense.

Fight of the Week: Varner/Henderson,
even if Varner runs out of steam early.

Hype Quote of the Shows: “I met the
kid… They announced him and they called him, Anthony ‘Cheesecake’
Morrison. And he got all pissed. He goes, ‘No man, it’s Cheese
steak. Cheese steak.’”-- Brown, on the confusion over his
opponent’s nickname, to Sherdog.com.